The scene opens as usual for a Ben Jordan promo, the man himself sitting in a chair, waiting to do his introduction.
"It's been a couple of right lousy weeks as you can imagine people." Ben says with a soft tone. "As ya can tell, not my usually perky self as I sit here and have a chat with ya and show ya what I've been up to recently. We're sitting here on Tuesday and blimey, I've been a bear with a sore head since Climax Control."
He turns his head slightly, as the bitterness returns to his body.
"It's been a bit of a slump since then." Ben says honestly. "And I'll level with ya, I really dunno what I was doing or anything like that. I didn't know what to shoot for you lot, the whole match thing has me in knots so I filmed a bit of everything since Climax Control and threw it all together."
Ben puts his palms out in front of him.
"It does very much have a theme." Ben says. "Not a great one because no one likes to see the good guy hit the skids and end up on a downward turn and I hope to think at times I am the good guy, but even good guys struggle, even good guys have their moments of sliding."
He exhales sharply.
"I guess this was mine." Ben says. "Shouldn't known things might have gone bangers up when I had a cameraman appear right after the match. Then finding out what I'm doing next."
He slowly shakes his head.
"I figured that might be something you guys might wanna see, so let's roll it." He says with a wag of his finger...
It was minutes after the Mixed Tag Team Championship match and Ben was already sitting in his dressing room alone. Disappointment covered him from top to bottom as the all too familiar of failure covered him once more from top to bottom. His mind felt like it was racing although none of the thoughts made sense as he sat on the floor, sweat dripping from his body, his knees up high against his chest. A camera was pointed at him as he sat deep in empty thought.
"How are you feeling?" The cameraman asked him.
Ben put his head up slowly, noticing the camera for the first time from he preoccupied state. He sat silently for a few seconds.
"How am I feeling, Phil?" He said with an odd snap. "How am I feeling cameraman Phil?"
He paused as he breathed in, unsure on himself on how to continue before opting to speak from his heart.
"I'm annoyed Phil. Really annoyed!" Ben said back with a low tone. "I'm annoyed that I feel like I've been turned over out there, I'm annoyed that people are right about me, I'm annoyed I let this bloody happen, that I let this whole thing happen instead of putting the whole thing to bed but once again, I screwed the pooch and blew it. I should have known."
Ben put his hands behind his head, squeezing his interlocked fingers tightly.
"Knew what?" The cameraman asked.
"That Finn was going to use everything I said against me. It's what Finn does, I should have seen it coming." Ben said with bitterness.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean." The cameraman said confused.
"What I mean..." Ben instantly snapped back. "is Finn used what I said against me in a clever way. I'm not talking the good old traditional microphone battle, I mean in the sense not only did he hear my words, but he watched my body language and figured out when I believed in myself or when I was lacking confidence and all he had to do out there tonight was see my body language when I wasn't confident and keep me at bay, knew when to strike. This is why he's gonna be World Champion, because he's smart."
"Oh..." The cameraman said understanding.
"You know what else makes him smart?" Ben asked no one in particular. "That he's right about me, cause once again, I gotta sound like a broken record and admit I let Sam down again and I should have ended things earlier. I say that so much, I might as well repeat it in my sleep. If I ended it earlier, then I wouldn't have to feel disappointed, I wouldn't have to admit to letting Sammi down and I wouldn't be this broken record."
"If Alexander Raven didn't interfere, things might have been different." Phil tries to offer in a comforting tone.
"Like I said, I should have put it to bed earlier. Broken record Ben strikes again." Ben said with a disappointed tone. "But you know what? I have no bloody clue what the hell Alexander Raven was doing out there, it actually made sod all sense. None at all, I mean really? Geezer I don't really know appears and does that randomly when he's not exactly been here all the time. I'm baffled by it but right now, couldn't give a monkeys Phil. Here's what I wanna do. I wanna get up, shower, walk out of this place without saying a word, drop a message to use all those vacation days Despayre got in my contract and go and figure out what to do here, because I'm clearly not the Ben Jordan I used to be and I have no idea how to be him anymore."
He looked at the ground shaking his head slowly.
"Let's hope I'm not working this supercard because there's absolutely no point." He said to himself.
"Not even against Raven?" The cameraman asked.
"I do not give a damn about Raven." Ben fired back. "At this point, I don't really care why he did it, what he hopes to gain from it or how he thinks he's gonna use me to boost his career."
Ben looked directly down the camera.
"Hey Alexander." Ben said firmly. "If you're looking to use me to try and boost your career or whatever, you shoulda found someone better, someone that you might get credibility for beating up, well that's not me anymore. You don't get much for beating up the new whipping boy of SCW, shoulda gone after someone worthwhile."
Ben waved Phil off.
"If ya don't mind Phil." Ben said with a wave of his hand. "I gotta get ready, I have a plane to catch."
And it was on that flight Ben had learned about his upcoming match at My Bloody Valentine. He sat on his private plane stunned as the card came through to his phone. He knew he had to get some thoughts off his mind and a flight long game of Football Manager had been paused and the recording program had been set up. He centred his face on the camera and hit the red button.
"So I just saw the card." Ben said with a thoughtful tone. "And I'm baffled. I really am, it hasn't really sunk in yet but I don't get it."
His face matched his baffled tone as he took a few seconds to let things sink in.
"My first thoughts is to ask why." He said confused. "I mean the match doesn't make sense to me. I know what I am, I know who I am, I'm the guy who fills in for people, fills spots on the card when there's no one else, when people take a break but this just feels like I've been shoehorned in to this for absolutely no reason at all."
His face changed to pure confusion.
"I mean I didn't need to be on this show." He said seriously. "It feels like I've been stuck in this thing to make something up to me that I have zero interest in. It's bloody weird. This is seriously not me at all. I get I make up the numbers a lot and I'm ok with that but this feels pointless. I'm not a hardcore wrestler, never have been. Even when I was Roulette champion, I was ready for anything, even those poxy over sexualised matches that seemed to make their way on to the wheel when I was champion but I was never a blood and guts bloke. I'm a bloke who believes there is an art to wrestling and stories don't need to be told in random matches like this. Blow off matches I get, but this makes sod all sense. It's four random guys with no build up, no major heat towards each other, just chucked in to a situation that well, like I said, doesn't make a lick of sense."
He turned his head, trying to find the right words.
"I've tried to add logic to this whole thing." Ben said seriously. "But I really can't find any sorta logic at all to it. I dunno why name is in this whole thing. If it's to light a fire under me, it's not gonna work. I'm not gonna get it this and get the taste for blood, I'm not gonna get a love for blood and guts wrestling overnight. I am mentally and physically done at this point, this could be my last match because I'm not focused and if you're going in to matches like this without being focused, you could get seriously hurt and this could happen to me. My career could end being put in a match I ain't comfortable with, I'm not mentally ready for and that I'm not focused for. I've never been one to be frustrated at any SCW booking ever but this is bonkers."
He sighed deeply.
"I am not this type of guy." Ben said with a slight shake of his head. "Yet here I am with a potential career ending match. Yeah, I'm talking about retirement because I've made my cash after twelve plus years putting my body on the line and I would like to walk away from it while I can walk away from it but this is putting me at risk. I will be a good little solider and carry on while I can and do this thing even though it could put my long term health at risk, but as soon as it's done, Despayre might be getting a call to try and get me to buy my way out of this contract."
He never thought he would say that and his face matched it with disappointment.
"I never wanted it to end like this but I'm frustrated." He admitted. "I'm not the Ben Jordan people expect anymore. Last two matches, a draw and a count out loss and now thrown in to something that ain't me, never has been me, never will be me. I get a wrestlers careers has ups and downs, but so far this year for me has been shocking. Nothing's clicking anymore and I'm falling out of love with something I used to adore. I feel like my mental health is being abused here and I don't know why. I've always done what's asked of me and now I'm starting to feel that being the nice guy isn't getting me nowhere."
His face matched the sadness he felt just by saying those words.
"The reason I'm recording this is not for anyone else, although I'm sure somehow, someone will get hold of it, they always do and throw crap back in ya mush, but I'm recording this for me." He said to himself. "Because after your body is torn up in a pointless match, after you're struggling to walk or sit on a plane for hours, I want you to rewatch this and ask yourself if you still feel this way. I want you to ask yourself is it worth all the aggro because others want you around more then you want to be around. Is it worth continuing when things don't look better. You need to somehow focus on the job at hand and try and be able to get through this, but mate, it's that time you need to look out for yourself. No more Saint Ben doing it all for others, it's about you taking care of number one for a change."
He wiped his hand over his forehead.
"This can't go on." He said firmly. "You can't have your head screwed with because people wanna see Ben the wrestler rather then the man behind Ben, Ben the person. It's just not on. So I'm hoping when you watch this back after that pointless match, you make the right call. If ya still feel the exact same way you do now, it's time to get the hell out of dodge. People can say what they want but when ya mental health is getting put on the line for silly things, just ain't worth the hassle. I hope that match didn't kill ya and ya still able to watch this."
He stopped recording and closed the laptop lid down, just staring in to space for a few seconds. He tried to shake the whole thing from his mind but just couldn't.
His mood didn't improve as Ben sat in his local bar, The Ferry House, just at a table with his eyes on his pint, taking no notice of the crowd that had filtered in through the hours he had sat in the same spot. Even if he had raised his head, he would have seen a lack of familiar faces, the pub's clientele changing dramatically over the last few weeks.
"Shoulda done better." His words were slurred, but not completely in a drunken stupor. "But Finn knew what was up. I should tweet some rubbish like that cause Finn knows. Hey Ben, you've done it again, come up with another hashtag."
He pulled out his phone, quickly tapping away at the screen.
"I don't need to tag him in it." He mutters to himself. "Cause Finn knows obviously!"
He finished up his typing and put his phone back down on the table in front of him and looked back at his pint, lifting it up and taking a big mouthful. He placed the pint glass back on the table, only for another to appear in front of him from a female hand. He squinted as he looked up towards her, spotting the hand belonging to the barmaid. He only had to raise an eyebrow for her to know what he was going to ask.
"It's from the guys over there." She told Ben. "They're fans of yours. They want to know if they can take a selfie with ya."
Ben sat mulling the request over in his slightly clouded mind.
"I'll come and take one with them in a bit." Ben tells her. "I should have thought about that before."
"Thought about what?" She asked with a genuinely curious tone.
"Should sell selfie's for pints." He said with a half hearted smile. "I guess in a way with what I do, I guess I've been doing it for years without even looking at things that way."
"Must be nice to be famous." She commented.
"Not as sunshine, rainbows and lollypops as most people think to be fair." Ben replied.
She smiled as she went back to work. Ben raised the glass to the group with one hand and holding up five fingers to indicate five minutes before he'll be over to take the selfie, unsure if he actually would. His mood was low and didn't mind disappointing people at this point, but a free beer sat in front of him.
"Guess being famous does have some perks, even if it is being famous for being a let down." Ben put the glass to his lips as soon as he finished speaking.
"Something wrong son?" Ben heard aimed in his direction.
Ben looked up, he didn't notice the old man with a walking from next to him looking down at him. Ben blinked with surprise.
"Nothing I can't handle." Ben muttered.
The old man looked at the bar waving at the barmaid.
"Can I have my usual and a pint for this young man?" He asked.
Ben put his hand up, pointing at his full glass in front of him.
"Cheer but I just got one." He told the old man.
The old man looked at him and put a hand on Ben's shoulder.
"I know that son." He told Ben. "But if I looked like you do right now, I'd want another drink too."
Ben couldn't help but smile at the man as he nodded his head.
"Can't argue with that logic." Ben said with his first genuine smile all day.
"Mind if I join ya?" He asked.
Ben didn't have time to respond as the old man was already taking the seat opposite him, his walking frame parked behind him. Ben put his hand out towards the chair as the old man sat before him.
"You've gone a face so long, if you went to a race course, they'll put you in the four forty." The old man said with a grin.
Ben couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Just things going wonky for me a bit." Ben told him. "Every time I swing, I miss."
Two drinks were placed in front of them from the same barmaid, before she rushed away once more.
"Work ain't all it's cracking up to be these days." Ben explained.
"What do you do?" The man asked Ben.
"Believe it or not, I'm a wrestler." Ben told him.
"Like those blokes on the tele?" He asked as he put his thumb towards the television.
Ben had been obvious to the fact that for a good hour, SCW Climax Control was being shown on a nearby television from the past Sunday. It had already made it's way to the main event.
"That's who I work for." Ben said. "I was on that show earlier but must have missed myself."
"So what's wrong with it?" He asked as he picked up his drink.
Ben sighed.
"I've been doing it for so long, it's not as fun as it used to be." Ben told him honestly. "It's a whole lot of stress."
"I'm eighty four years old." The man told Ben. "Work has never been fun, but we do it to keep going. There's a lot of people, especially round here that are having a tough time. People come in here because it's the cheapest pub on the Island, because it's either that or drinking at home on your own. Work is just something we have to do, but life ain't about that."
Ben raised an eyebrow as he looked at the man.
"So what is it about?" Ben asked.
"The people." He replied. "If you can spend your life around good people, it stops you being miserable. It means you add something to their lives and that will take away from work problems."
Ben nodded his head slowly.
"Wise words." Ben admitted. "I do have a lot of good people in my life that I seem to be letting down at the moment."
The man stared at Ben for just a few seconds.
"If they still keep in touch, you're not letting them down son." The man said with a comforting tone. "And I don't know if you've noticed but there's a lot of people around looking at you and smiling."
Ben hadn't noticed but it didn't take him long to lift his head and look around and people indeed looking at him and smiling. Ben looked back at the man.
"You're wise beyond your years." Ben said with a smile. "If you'd excuse me for a second, I think I owe those lads over there a selfie. I won't be a minute."
Ben stood up, a slight smile on his face as the man nodded his head. Ben headed off in the direction of the men to do exactly what he said he would do. The first of many selfie's through the night.
We return to Ben in his chair.
"Believe me people, it didn't get any better from there at all. That last scene, absolute highlight of my week." Ben says with a slow shake of his head. "But here we go, we got a match to sell regardless."
Ben leans back in his chair.
"So alright people." He says less enthusiastic then usual. "You're gonna have to excuse me if I'm not my usual self but honestly, I dunno what to say or what to do at this point because not gonna lie, I am not overly interested in this one at all. I mean come on, me in a cage with weapons? When have you ever known me to be that kinda bloke?"
He sadly sighs.
"It's not me." He says straight. "It never has been me, but what always has been me is I've gone on like a good little solider and followed orders. I got put in this chaos, I'm gonna have to find some way to deal with it, even if I dunno how. These kinda matches, not easy at all, not the kinda thing someone with a couple of brain cells wants to put themselves in and it seems I'm not alone in those thoughts either. I browsed social media after I found out about this and it turns out I'm not the only one feeling like this is short sighted booking and chucked together for the sake of it, because looks like Aiden Reynolds also has a couple of reservations about this one. Don't blame ya mate."
Ben rolls his eyes.
"We have that in common for sure because you don't seem like the type of fella who has anything to do with these matches." Ben says honestly. "I get why ya here though, SCW giving you a spot on the card, just like me, seemingly for the sake of it and save us from another Bulldog Vs Alexander match, but the difference is I've been here donkey's years, they should know that ain't my kinda thing but you, I dunno, they're maybe seeing if you can do it. I get the feeling you want to be in this one as much as I do, which is very, very little so happy to make ya a little deal. We'll do the wrestling side and let the other two prat around with weapons, how's that sound?"
Ben half smiles.
"I really do feel your pain." Ben says. "But my career is running out, especially after this, but this could make your career Aiden, beating three SCW veterans, would be a lovely feather in your cap, even if it means getting hit by chairs or whatever. I don't even know, you probably don't even know, I don't know why we're here but I do have a lot of pride, probably too much for my own good at times, so as much as we don't want to be here, probably should go put on a show for the people I guess."
Ben waits for a few seconds.
"Someone I do have more then enough experience in the ring with sadly." Ben says. "Bill Barnhart. Bill, it seems like the same old song and dance we do every three weeks it feels like. One form or another, we end up on opposite sides if the ring. It's like they're giving me a greatest hits tour when the hits wasn't really that good. That's how it feels when it comes to getting in the ring with you. It's like I step up, repeat what I've done countless times, get the crowd playing along, have them cheering my name and walking away with my name being chanted. In case that's gone over ya head while you plan your history lesson about what you've done, what I've done and going around in circles like you do most weeks, it means I pretty much beat you all the time, so you need to ask yourself this question."
Ben pauses for dramatic effect.
"Do you really believe a cage and some weapons is gonna make that much of a difference?" He asks. "Sure, this isn't my kind of match, and you probably like this crap more then I do, but do you think it will make a difference on making your chances get higher winning this one?"
Ben puts his hands out flat in front of him.
"In your nut, it probably does." Ben says thoughtfully. "But it mine, nah, doesn't help you much at all, cause I'll do what I always do and out wrestle you. I will stick to my strengths and that pretty much means I will out wrestle you. You might think you're technically sound with your moves right out of the eighties and that knowledge you possess, but one on one, you don't beat me because I'm a pretty decent wrestler. Adding in two more and some weapons doesn't change the fact that I can and will out fight you. Feel free to go for the chairs and swing. It will only prove you need a little extra to try and take me out when wrestling wise, you can't. We've done this wrestling thing before Bill and it might be because I'm on a downer, but I'm bored of facing you Bill. It's been singles, it's been tags, now this. Mate, I'm sick of it, I'm so damn tired of it, it's not even funny anymore, we know how this tends to go, some metal don't change that."
Ben grits his teeth.
"And now you Alexander." He says with slightly more venom to his tone. "What was you thinking? Seriously, I'm happy for you to answer that one back to me when you come out and speak, because I really don't get it."
Ben looks confused.
"Did I do something to offend you? Did I say something you didn't like?" Ben asks. "Because as far as I'm aware, I did nothing to get on your wick son, I did bugger all to cross your path. Was it cause I didn't invite ya for a pint? Hell, maybe I did when I was tanked up and dunno, but me and you ain't exactly crossed paths so why do you think you did what you did? Cause I can't work it out and wondering if anyone can. I mean this is an answers on a postcard sorta thing, not that you or many others will get that reference, but what is it that I did that you thought you could skip on down and take away my redemption? That's what you robbed me off a couple of weeks back was my redemption, my thank you to Sammi for putting up with me, for letting her down in the past and you took that from me but no one can work out why."
Ben sighs.
"Just a bit random, don't ya think?" Ben questions. "I get it if I had done a thing to you, even mentioned ya name in a weird way but the only thing I can think of is you had inside information that for some unknown reason, I was gonna be stuck in this match. That's the only thing I can think of is you knew I was gonna be there, I didn't have a Scooby but you knew and that you did what you did to try and get some kind of advantage on me."
Ben looks seriously down the camera.
"That failed miserably because you're not the reason I'm not with it." He says with a tone matching his face. "Not finishing that match early and being a champion is why I'm not with it, being put in this match is why I'm not with it. They could have replaced you with the Cookie Monster for all I care and this match type would have still thrown me. All you've done is given me a chance to get ya back for stopping me and Sammi from defending the Mixed Tag Team Championships on this show. That's all you've done."
Ben shrugs.
"Gotta ask yourself if it's really worth it." He says casually. "I don't think it was, really don't but that's the thing, I'm not in your head, I am as lost by this whole thing as everyone else. We'll call this a lovely casual chance at revenge for something I dunno what I did to start it. Probably doesn't make sense but well, does in my head. Not a lot makes sense in there though to be honest but through the rubble that does. My head is in the place I didn't even know you was still knocking around here Alexander until that show, but was is clear in my head is win, lose or with my luck lately, draw, you are gonna know ya messed up by costing me those titles. If anything was gonna drive me on, that was."
Ben looks at his watch.
"Well, my time is up here, so I will see you three at My Bloody Valentine." He says with a sad shake of his head. "Laters people."
With a less then enthusiastic wink, the camera fades.
